That was just one message brought forward to approximately 150-175 municipal politicians and business owners from Perth County last Tuesday, May 16 by Doug Griffiths, the founder and CEO of the consulting firm 13 Ways Inc.

“No matter what I tell you tonight it’s always about one thing – attitude,” he said at the opening of his hour-plus talk at the Mitchell & District Community Centre. “Frankly, attitude is everything. If your attitude says you’ll be successful, you’ll find a way to be successful. If your attitude says you’re probably going to fail, you’re going to fail.”

Griffiths explained that attitude is the biggest factor – and roadblock – to building a successful community. Using his vast experience talking with municipal and community leaders from across North America, Griffiths combined frightening examples and humorous stories to help find answers to questions that have hindered communities as they try to reach their full potential.

After a successful career in provincial politics in his home province of Alberta, Griffiths stepped away in 2015 to get back to what he really loved – helping build better communities. Prior to his 13 years in politics, Griffiths was a rancher and a teacher, giving him perspective from all sides. He is an expert in tactical planning, communicating with those resistant to change and setting small towns down a better path to success, a message all of Perth County and their municipalities could identify with.

“All of us have hopes, dreams, goals and ambitions…but we all do things to undermine our own success,” he said, referencing a teacher analogy about how students could ruin their life. “That’s because we know what we want most but we often choose what’s easiest right now. That’s the mistake we make. It’s not just high school students, we do it, ironically, as communities, too.”

From his book 13 Ways to Kill your Community, Griffiths itemized each one to the audience, from what should be common sense but some things that are easily overlooked or taken for granted.

He stressed, as municipal leaders, to never forget the value of good, clean water; never live in the past; be sure to paint or make your community attractive, and don’t ignore “outsiders” but embrace them and integrate them into your lives. If not, one or all will kill your community. He also pointed out that you need to engage youth – give them a reason to come back home once they’ve left and “explored” – as well as include seniors, the group of people who literally built your community from the ground up and who have valuable time and money to spend.

From a marketing perspective, Griffiths suggested politicians need to give people a reason to want to shop locally because every town and every community stresses the importance to do just that. Competition is also necessary to thrive, even if you don’t like it, and told the audience to think beyond municipal boundaries and co-operate fully with your neighbours to grow.

Griffiths recommends that economic development teams be comprised of outsiders – those that have no history – because they have an appreciation for your community, they are invested because they chose to be there.

“Those that come from further away picked your community on purpose. For its jobs, for its economic opportunities, its climate, environment… but if you’ve never left you’re here by default,” he said. “You don’t know what makes your community great.”

Today, only 47 per cent of the world has the right to vote democratically – the lowest since World War II, so helping to bring in immigrants to our communities reinforces how good we’ve got it.

“We never appreciate what we have until someone else appreciates what we have,” he said, reciting an example of how Japanese visitors were enthralled with plain, wide-open spaces in rural Alberta and spent all day looking at bison roaming the countryside because they’d never experienced anything like it.

“We complain because we pay $50-60 for our water bills and most people pay that if not more for cable,” he continued. “It reality, you can go three minutes without air, three days without water and three weeks without food, and after that you die. Everything else is just extra. But we complain we have to pay for quality water but some immigrants, depending where they come from, would gladly pay for it because they’ve never had it.

“They work hard to make a better life. And what do we do? We bitch and moan at the coffee shop about who is going to fix it. Is someone going to make my community better? When is somebody going to fix that? You are somebody. Get on with it.”

The responsibility to fix your community starts and ends with you, he stressed, adding that governments can’t fix problems, only communities can.

“It’s in everyone’s hands…all of you,” he said, pointing at random people in the crowd. “You are individually responsible for the success of your community. But the first thing you will find is all the naysayers. I used to get frustrated and get angry with these people, but don’t. The next time you have someone say ‘that can’t be done, it’s impossible,’ look at them and smile and say those who say it can’t be done should not interrupt those that are doing it.”

The municipalities of West Perth and North Perth, Townships of Perth East and Perth South, County of Perth and the Town of St. Marys worked in partnership to bring Griffiths to the community.